Plot

While tracking a strong-armed pimp who has skipped bail, a bounty hunter discovers a contract has been put out on him and must go on the run.

Truck is a bounty hunter who gets a job to track down a guy named Gator. When he and his partner find him, a chase ensues and Gator is killed. This makes Gator's woman, Dorinda, very angry and she puts a hit on Truck. The man who agrees to kill Truck is named Blue. The question is whether Truck can survive with Blue and his gang on his trail.—Josh Pasnak <chainsaw@intouch.bc.ca>

Academy Award® winner Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto star in this powerful, pull-out-the-stops crime thriller from director Jonathan Kaplan. It's a gritty, action-packed tale of the streets, pulsating with ultra-smooth soul, high-octane energy and nonstop suspense. Truck Turner (Hayes) is a football star-turned-bounty hunter who's tracking a sadistic pimp on the mean streets of Los Angeles. Armed with his brute strength and ace cool partner (Alan Weeks), Truck closes in on his mark. But a tragic accident soon changes all the rules, and suddenly the hunter finds himself being hunted by the city's deadliest hired killers. Truck strikes back in a series of wild car chases, shootouts and bone-crunching fistfights, knowing that the battles can lead to only one place: an intense struggle to the death against Harvard Blue (Kotto), the brutal leader of L.A.'s organized crime syndicate.

In Los Angeles, California, African-American bounty hunter "Mack Truck" Turner and his partner, Jerry, drive to a U.S. Air Force base in search of Garrity, a rapist who has skipped trial after being released on bail. When the guards do not allow them on the base, Truck drives his car through the gate and captures Garrity. After delivering him to the authorities, Truck visits Annie, his girlfriend and a petty thief who is also incarcerated. Later, at a courthouse, a lawyer named Fogarty asks Truck and Jerry to track down a pimp who has defaulted on a $30,000 bail. The pimp's name is Richard Leroy "Gator" Johnson, and he has a violent criminal record; thus, Truck and Jerry demand more money for the job. Once Fogarty agrees to pay them $1,000 each, Truck and Jerry go to a beauty salon in search of Gator's prostitutes. There, Truck speaks to Dorinda, an accomplice of Gator's who refuses to provide any information. Unbeknownst to Dorinda, Jerry follows her out of the salon and sees her walk up to Gator's car on the street. As Gator speeds away, Truck and Jerry drive after him. After a car chase through the city, the pursuit continues on foot, and Gator escapes. Truck and Jerry receive word from a retired criminal named Duke that someone named Harvard Blue is also looking for Gator, since he stole Blue's girlfriend, a buxom blonde named Stalingrad Cruise. Soon after, Truck and Jerry track down a drug dealer friend of Gator's and force him to call the pimp, saying he has a new batch of drugs. However, the man warns Gator, and a gunfight ensues between Gator, Truck and Jerry. They shoot Gator dead, but Stalingrad runs out of the house and stabs Jerry with a pair of scissors, prompting Truck to knock her out with one punch. After Fogarty pays them their fees, Truck and Jerry unwind over some drinks. Truck is late to pick up Annie who has been released from prison, but she forgives him as they return to his apartment and make love. At Gator's funeral, Harvard Blue appears and offends Dorinda by spitting on the pimp's grave. At a party afterward, Dorinda sits down with Blue and several other local criminals and says she wants revenge on Truck, saying whoever kills him can join her in running Gator's stable of prostitutes. Although three hit men attempt to kill Truck for Dorinda, they all end up dead. After these initial failures, Blue meets with Dorinda and tells her he will kill Truck in exchange for half of Gator's share of the profits from the prostitution ring. Blue arranges for a $100,000 life insurance policy on Truck with a corrupt insurance broker, so that they can collect the payout once he is dead. However, in their first attempt to ambush Truck, they accidentally kill Jerry instead. Truck goes to the hospital to see Nate Dinwiddie, who was beaten by Blue's men in their pursuit of Truck. Returning home, Truck and Annie find his apartment ransacked and his beloved cat, Francis, hanged by the neck. Truck encourages Annie to stay with her parents, but, since she refuses, he frames her for theft at a clothing store in order to send her to safety in prison. Armed with a shotgun, Truck goes in search of Blue, but only finds his henchmen. While visiting Nate at the hospital again, Truck encounters Blue and several hit men who have come to kill him. Drawing a gun from inside his hospital bed, Nate shoots at Blue's group first, and a bloody gunfight ensues. Elsewhere in the hospital, using a small child as a hostage, Blue tries to escape but Truck shoots him in the leg. As Blue stumbles outside, Truck delivers a fatal shot, then goes to Dorinda's home and tells all the prostitutes to pack their bags. Dorinda pulls a gun on Truck, but he shoots her first. Annie is released from jail later that day and, although Truck arrives to pick her up, she tells him to leave her alone. However, Truck promises to take Annie out of town and presents her with a kitten. Having reconciled, they drive away together.